Various epoxy-functional polymers are well known in the art. These resins can be cured with an organic amine, such as diethylenetriamine, to form insoluble resins (for example, see the article by Ivan and Kennedy in Journal of polymer Science: Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Vol.28, 89-104 (1990)). Further, certain amine-functional silanes, such as .gamma.-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, have been used to cure epoxy systems such as the glycidyl ether of bisphenol A (Serier et al. in Makromol. Chem., Macromol. Symp. 25, 85-90 (1989)). U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,074 to Fosconte et al. additionally discloses interpenetrating networks comprising epoxy polymer and polysiloxane prepared by reacting an organic amine and/or an amine-functional alkoxysilanes, having six or fewer carbon atoms in its alkoxy group, with an epoxy resin.
However, when such organic amines or amine-functional silanes are used to cure certain polymers, such as epoxy-functional polyisobutylene, it has been observed that the crosslinking process is quite slow, especially at low temperatures. In these systems, a long curing time is generally required and the resulting cured materials often have poor mechanical properties and tacky surfaces. Such protracted cure time is generally not acceptable in commercial applications and improved cure agents for the epoxy-functional systems are desired.